tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post2310889688006317779..comments2023-04-25T13:20:01.724-07:00Comments on Arizona Eagletarian: Why have you never heard of Henry George?Steve Muratore aka Arizona Eagletarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404761986345385458noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-14810351870681423392014-01-18T13:58:48.664-07:002014-01-18T13:58:48.664-07:00You don't need to read 565 pages! The Drake a...You don't need to read 565 pages! The Drake abridgment is about half that. And there are several synopses, including one of just 39 pages which is linked from http://menaceofprivilege.com/synopsis-of-progress-poverty/.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-11938550800199811602013-05-16T08:04:22.692-07:002013-05-16T08:04:22.692-07:00My 1981 college textbook, now available on-line f...My 1981 college textbook, now available on-line for free reading, linking, etc., devoted a major portion of one chapter (chapter 15, "Beyond Utopia,") to the ideas of Henry George. Access it at my website, http://www.deLespinasse.org . <br /><br />My take is that George was not only ahead of his time, but he is also ahead of OUR time. But I think he was wrong to argue that captured economic rents of natural resources (using his very broad and correct definition of "land,") should be used to support the operations of government. There is no reason to assume that the captured "rents" will equal the amount government should be spending, which might be more or less than the captured rent. Instead, the money should be placed in a trust fund and disbursed periodically to every member of the public (everyone subject to the jurisdiction of that government) as an equal social dividend. <br /><br />This analysis is expanded and the logic of the social dividend is explained further in a later work, The Metaconstitutional Manifesto: A Bourgeois Vision of the Classless Society, which is also freely available via my website. <br /><br />Paul deLespinasse<br />Corvallis, Oregon<br />Paul F. deLespinassehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06032931702918183415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-2959667599601722852013-04-29T09:49:09.694-07:002013-04-29T09:49:09.694-07:00LVT is not am tax. It is "reclaiming" co...LVT is not am tax. It is "reclaiming" common wealth that has fallen into then hands of private individuals and organizations.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12909467599259009166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-90308536349264943322013-04-29T09:46:45.658-07:002013-04-29T09:46:45.658-07:00Currently we penalized production and trade by lev...Currently we penalized production and trade by levying a tax on Income and sales respectively. That is exactly what we do not need to do to create economic growth and stable just economic system.<br /><br />The prime aim is to reclaim commonly created wealth to pay for common services, eliminating Income tax (penalizing production) & Sale taxes (penalizes trade), etc. Very simple so far. <br /><br />"economic rent", is where there is NO enterprise and NO cost of production). The surplus is created by others, public and private, and can fall into many categories. The biggest form is the values of land. Land value are created by the economic activity of a community not by the landowners, so this is rife to be reclaimed and used instead of Income tax (penalizes production) & Sales taxes (penalizes trade).<br /><br />This community created value is termed "unearned income" and "economic rent", or more easy to understand when appropriated by private individuals or organisations, "economic freeloading".<br /><br />Henry George focused only on LAND, Marx on CAPITAL. Both failed. One never got off the ground as George pedalled the Single Tax, which few thought would work, and Marx failed in practice. Marx never advocated violence to enact his revolution. Geonomics focuses on all unearned income and "economic rent" and reclaims all.<br /><br />In The USA the top 1% own more wealth than the bottom 90%. This indicates an economic system that is not working. Look at how the top 1% got most of their wealth. By appropriating common wealth - wealth others worked for. Stop this plundering and economic justice will ensue. Wealth will not accumulate with the wealthy.<br /><br />Well is this just a theory? No. There are elements of Land value taxation around the world that work to great effect. The most dynamic economies in the world have decent levels of LVT: Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan. When Denmark had LVT at a national level in the early 1960s the economy took off like a rocket. There are also some elements of capturing "unearned income" around the world.<br /><br />Many view that Capitalism has failed, with some justification with two world-wide crashes inside 80 years. Marx analysed Capitalism very well (95% of his writing were about the failures of Capitalism). He was complimentary of the advances of Capitalism, but was light on an alternative solution to plug the holes of Capitalism. Marx advocated eliminating Capitalism. <br /><br />Geonomics identifies the root problems, which Marx never saw, and fills the holes, keeping the positive aspects of Capitalism.<br /><br />Currently we:<br />1. Socialize private wealth via income tax.<br />2. Privatize social wealth by those who appropriate "economic rent"<br /><br />We should be:<br /><br />a) Socializing social wealth - by reclaiming "economic rents"<br />b) Keeping private wealth private - by eliminating Income & Sales taxes.<br /><br />Currently we steal of those who work and allow robbers to go scot-free.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12909467599259009166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-34527062979265026912013-04-25T07:10:51.890-07:002013-04-25T07:10:51.890-07:00Many Georgists would disagree about there being no...Many Georgists would disagree about there being no such thing as a good tax. LVT has important positive effects, as well as being free of the negative effects that make other taxes damaging. <br /><br />It is sometimes said that it is better to collect the economic rent and throw it in the sea than to leave it in private pockets. LVTfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17172522529549663162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-30782528990068797832013-04-23T09:53:28.923-07:002013-04-23T09:53:28.923-07:00George has also been badly mis-understood. Today m...George has also been badly mis-understood. Today many Georgists claim that Land-Value Taxation is a good tax as compared to income tax or any tax on the results of production. There is no such thing as a good tax, but since a tax is necessary for a government to run a country it should be one that does the least amount of damage to its progress. <br />It is the secondary effects that are beneficial in that LTV causes the land to be used in a more efficient manner and reduces the cost of the produce due to reduced amount of rent that the land holder can (competitively) claim. This means that the demand for consumer and durable goods will rise and that more perople will find employment that when LTV is absent. It also (incidently) stops the land owner from exploiting the raised land values, after the tax payers money has been spent by the government in improving the infrastructure. Macrocompassionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09852689411841500628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-63879027023168871852013-04-22T09:18:42.561-07:002013-04-22T09:18:42.561-07:00I would also commend to your attention the Earth R...I would also commend to your attention the Earth Rights Institute:<br /> http://www.earthrights.net/<br /> http://www.earthrightsinstitute.org/<br /> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Rights_Institute<br />Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11442930829596234030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-35937002855560635042013-04-22T09:00:58.600-07:002013-04-22T09:00:58.600-07:00I appreciate your input, thanks very much.I appreciate your input, thanks very much.Steve Muratore aka Arizona Eagletarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01404761986345385458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-80292160068231555282013-04-22T08:59:32.879-07:002013-04-22T08:59:32.879-07:00I'm currently reading Chrystia Freeland's ...I'm currently reading Chrystia Freeland's book, Plutocrats. She mentions George several times.Steve Muratore aka Arizona Eagletarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01404761986345385458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-68313924446213330052013-04-22T08:04:25.957-07:002013-04-22T08:04:25.957-07:00Just out of curiosity, how did you end up hearing ...Just out of curiosity, how did you end up hearing about Henry George?Dustinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03281139322075488545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-76357500182994740552013-04-22T07:19:20.156-07:002013-04-22T07:19:20.156-07:00A colleague suggested I might add something to you...A colleague suggested I might add something to your blog regarding Henry George, as I am a long-time teacher at the Philadelphia extension of the Henry George School and have developed course materials using Powerpoint-based modules I provide at no cost to teachers. The Henry George Institute offers online courses that qualify for college credit.<br /><br />The contribution of Henry George is as a moral philosopher. His principles were those of cooperative individualism, which if followed would forge societies characterized by true liberty and equality of opportunity. In 1997 I established an online project, the School of Cooperative Individualism (SCI) to introduce these principles to thoughtful people everywhere. I invite you and others to visit SCI's website and make use of the resources provided. E.J. Dodsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12307534020065013112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-478354375758846359.post-78898516542178001112013-04-22T03:42:54.112-07:002013-04-22T03:42:54.112-07:00Hear! Hear!
The Henry George Institute, at http...Hear! Hear! <br /><br />The Henry George Institute, at http://henrygeorge.org, offers online courses and correspondence courses, and includes an excellent modern abridgment of Progress and Poverty (Bob Drake did a thought-by-thought updating into modern language, which you can find there and at progressandpoverty.org.)<br /><br />http://schalkenbach.org/ has some great material in its online library.<br /><br />I commend to your attention a recent book by Walter Rybeck entitled Re-Solving the Economic Puzzle.<br /><br />By 1902, a follower of Henry George named Elizabeth Magie had created The Landlord's Game to teach his ideas. A derivative game is known today as Monopoly. See Wikipedia for more on this.<br /><br />Among the scholars whose work one might look into are Mason Gaffney, Fred Foldvary, Nic Tideman, Kris Feder, Michael Hudson, Polly Cleveland, Francis Peddle.<br /><br />Georgists gather annually; this year the meeting is in Pittsburg in early August. See http://www.cgocouncil.org/conf13.htm<br /><br />Finally, you might find http://workandwealth.com of interest, both for its videos and its other documents. LVTfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17172522529549663162noreply@blogger.com